12.12.2014

Sister Therese Maria
Touma renewed her vows on Monday, December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate
Conception, at the Divine Liturgy in Our Lady of Purgatory Church, New Bedford.

This was a beautiful way for
our congregation to enter into the Year of Consecrated Life, called for by Pope
Francis (begun Sunday, November 30).In
his recent letter to consecrated men and women, Pope Francis said that the beauty
of consecration is “joy, joy…the joy of bringing God’s consolation to all.”

The Feast of the
Immaculate Conception, celebrating the Blessed Virgin’s conception without the original
sin, is also a special feast for the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light. We
are called, just like Mary, to “incarnate the Good News” as stated by Pope Francis, and to allow Christ the
Light to penetrate the darkness of our world.

We ask you all, especially during this
Year of Consecrated Life, to pray for vocations to our mission.

12.05.2014

The Christmas Novena, beginning on December 15 is nine consecutive days
of prayer and is a wonderful way of preparing ourselves for the birth of our
Lord Jesus Christ and getting into the true spirit of Christmas.The incensing of the Blessed Sacrament, the
prayers, the Syriac hymns and the processions all help us to worship and
glorify the Word of God who is coming to save us and live among us –
Emmanuel. After the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the congregation
kneels in worship and the chants “Shoubho-l-how qolo” or “Glory to the Word
that became flesh.” Traditionally this “Ziah” is chanted in Syriac.

The nine prayers (one
for each day representing the nine months that Mary was pregnant with Jesus)
are rich in their imagery and poetry. They give us the opportunity to adore and
love our Lord at His nativity. They help us to reflect on his humility, love
and divinity and at the same time our weaknesses and failures. They help
us to live our never ending love story with our Mother Mary with words such as
“O Wine of the Virgins and Lily of Purity” asking for her intercession and the
intercession of her beloved spouse Joseph. We then pray an Our Father, Hail
Mary and Glory Be before concluding with a beautiful prayer “We have offered
you, O Wonderful Child and Unique Son, the perfume of our incense, the desire
of our hearts, the surrender of our souls, the inclination of our bodies and
the supplications of our lips…” Then as the priest begins to incense the
Blessed Sacrament again, we sing the hymn “Arsal Allah” or “God sent his only
Son, light for all the nations” which summarizes the prophesy of Isaiah about
the incarnation of the Word of God. Benediction follows blessing the
congregation to “Quodous, Quodous” or “Holy, Holy.”

If you have intentions for us to include in the novena, please email them to us.

MARONITE -- Syriac Antiochene Tradition

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Illumine Your Soul

May we be worthy to praise, glorify, and honor the One who renewed the world, and traced a new path of life for his creatures; Christ, the One who is light for all and who covered the universe with a new light by his glorious resurrection; the wondrous One who performed a new wonder on this day, by entering the Upper Room with his apostles, and immersing their hearts in a new happiness. To Christ, the good One, are due glory and honor, on this day and all the days of our lives, now and for ever. Amen

Rosary CD -- "Radiate His Light"

Our "Radiate His Light" CD includes the Luminious Mysteries in English, in Arabic, and the basic Catholic prayers in Aramaic. The meditations are taken from the Maronite liturgical prayers. If you would like a copy of this free CD visit our website and email your request. Please remember to include your full mailing address.

Brighten Your Day

""Love is the light -- and in the end, the only light-- that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living and working. Love is possible, and we are able to practice it because we are created in the image of God. To experience love and in this way to cause the light of God to enter into the world..."